Fitness and Muscle

Building your own home gym doesn’t have to cost a fortune. With some simple pieces of equipment you can work most muscle groups.No drive to the gym, no costly membership fees and no waiting around to use poor equipment means you can focus on building muscle whenever and however you want!

With a bit of space and a small investment building a home gym can be easy. Here’s a list of essential home gym equipment to get you started.

Power Rack

The power rack provides you with the ability to perform the main muscle building exercises. With a power rack you can bench press, squat and some also enable you to perform dips and pull ups.

A Power Rack is the most expensive piece of equipment you’ll need but it’s well worth it. Be sure to buy a good sturdy one that will last. I recommend the Powertec P-PR. It’s good quality and has built in chin up and dip bars.

If you’re lacking space and want a cheaper option you can get a smaller power rack. These limit the exercises you can do slightly but still allow for the main ones, like squats and bench presses.

Adjustable Bench

Buy a good sturdy bench and make sure it’s adjustable as this will greatly increase the number of exercises you can perform. You can use it along with the power rack to perform bench and shoulder presses.

With a bench and a set of dumbbells, you can work most muscles in the upper body. The Deltech Fitness Two-In-One Flat to Incline Bench
is sturdy and the seat and back are both adjustable.

Dumbbells

Dumbbells provide a limitless range of exercises you can perform in your home gym. You can perform a full workout using just dumbbells and an adjustable bench.

Buying dumbbells
with a spin lock, where you can add your own weights as you see fit, is probably best. It will also be cheaper than buying dumbbells with a set weight.

Barbell

The Barbell is pretty self explanatory and without it you won’t get much use out of the power rack! Just ensure that the barbell fits the right length requirements to go with your power rack.

An Olympic Barbell
is usually heavier than a normal one and also requires olympic weight plates. If you’re a beginner I would recommend a regular 7′ barbell.

Weight Plates

Obviously you’ll need the actual weights if you want to achieve anything! You’ll need weights for the dumbbells and the barbell, depending on how heavy you can lift, it’s entirely up to you.

Optional Extras

Things like an ez curl bar or tricep bar allow you to perform more specific exercises but are not essential as dumbbells can also be used.

An exercise ball may be a good addition to your home gym, as it will add another range of exercises you can perform with or without dumbbells.

Over time you can add the extras if needed but as long as you have the essentials in your home gym you’ll be building muscle in no time.